Skydiver Killed in Accident ID'd

Friends and family are remembering 27-year-old Jordan Janway of San Diego who died in a skydiving accident Sunday afternoon. NBC 7’s Elena Gomez reports from Jamul were the tragic accident occurred. (Published Monday, March 31, 2014)

Skydive San Diego operates out of that field. The company's owner Buzz Fink said Janway was training other skydiving employees.

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Fink told reporters that the victim was practicing a maneuver called tracking when he collided with his jump partner. At this point, Fink believes Janway may have been knocked unconscious and unable to open his parachute.

The other jumper involved in the midair collision was not injured and was able to safely land in the drop zone.

Three skydivers jumped out of the plane prior to Janway's jump. All jumps occurred at 13,000 feet, according to Fink.

The physical collision between Janway and another skydiver happened between 10,000 and 6,000 feet.

Fink said there is a chip at the top of the parachute bag that will automatically deploy the chute if the jumper is falling too fast.

However, he said Janway's chip was undergoing maintenance and not in his parachute Sunday.

Because he had more than 1,000 jumps under his belt, Janway was not required to jump with the chip and chose to skydive without it, Fink said.

"We do well over 100,000 jumps a year, and we pride ourselves on our safety and everything we do as far as our equipment, our airplanes," Fink said. "However, it is skydiving and things can happen and generally you do everything we can to prevent it."

"I liken it to driving down the road. You have a safety belt, an air bag. The bottom line is, you’re still at a risk if someone crosses that line and hits your car,” he said.